When I named My Cats Merry, Bright, & Jingle layout

 

People have certain expectations of my holiday home decor because I named my cats Merry, Bright & Jingle. I used 12 different stamp sets, a couple of dies, Texture Paste, and heat embossing to explain the difference.

The Expectation.

The Reality.

The Humbug makes it Holiday : D.

Altenew

Dot Labels stamp and die set

Kelly Purkey Simon Exclusive

F Bomb

My Favorite Things

Merry & Bright stamp set

Papertrey Ink

Comic Strip cover die

Ink

Jingle All the Way stamp and die set

Lighten Up stamp and die set

O'Tannenbaum stamp set

On My Couch stamp and die set

On My Couch Additions stamp set

On the Wagon stamp and die set

Snowfall Style stencil

Tiny Treats: Christmas stamp set

Tim Holtz 

Alphanumeric die set

1" Alphanumeric die set

Distress Ink

Distress Oxide Ink

Snarky Cat Christmas stamp set

Texture Paste

Watercolor Trees stamp set

Cantankerous When I Want to be Finale

I've been working on this page a while (2015), but I THINK it's done. The journaling is finished! I love altering photographs, but never the originals. I scan the originals and then print out a new one. I also love twisting the expectation with a contrasting first glance and the actual subject matter.

I added a die cut indicating the journaling is pulled out using a little arrow from Papertrey Ink's Movers & Shakers Sentiments set. I die cut a scrap of glossy paper and stamped the background with Papertrey Ink's Monthly Moments: Tabbed set.

I might add a couple more F Bombs from Kelly Purkey's F Bomb set.

Paper: Anna Griffin, 12x12 vellum, Papertrey Ink Sweet Blush cardstock, Vintage Glassine (for postage stamp collecting).

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Honey Bees, Monthly Moments: Tabbed, Movers & Shakers Sentiments, Simple Alphabets; Kelly Purkey F Bomb

Cricut: Cricut Explore doesn't show which images were used. No idea about the Vellum, letters, speech bubble, and the beetle. The toads are from Spells & Potions.

Miscellaneous: Stickles, Handsput Silk Embroidery Thread (used to stitch translucent pieces in place), Deckle edged scissors (for Journal Pocket), White Opaque Embossing Powder, Glossy Accents

There is something so satisfying about making embellishments : D. This little toad is one of my all time favorites.

Papertrey Ink April 2018 Blog Hop

Papertrey Ink's April 2018 Blog Hop inspiration picture. Since I'm doing 100 days of scrapbooking, I made a layout.

I started with a light blue piece of cardstock and drybrushed it with a mixture of white acrylic paint with a drop of Peeled Paint Distress Ink reinker.

Supplies:

stamps: All Booked Up, Art with Heart, Stitch in Time Borders, Stitched Alphabet, Stitching Garden, Type Strips
inks: Picked Raspbery Distress Ink, Worn Lipstick, Forest Moss Distress Oxide, Blueberry Sky, True  Black, Versamark
embossing powder: Stampendous Chunky Gold
Stickles: Gold

School Picture Dilemma

We have a relatively small family and there were usually lots of leftover photographs especially the wallet size photographs. The quandary is always what to do with the leftover photographs. Three down! : D.

 Another dilemma was the alphabet sticker. I really wanted to use this retired (?) Pink Paislee Old School Glitter set, only I was missing a lower case m and an o. So I used an upper case m, and the inner circle from two o's (with extra sticking power from Tim Holtz' Collage Medium).

  Originally I had used this stamped die cut from Papertrey Ink's Be Mine, Valentine. But I felt it was out of scale.

 So I restamped it on some Shrinky Dink and shrunk it down : D.

It also serves as the slide indicator for the pull out journaling. (I LOVE pocket journaling).

One of the most ingrained lessons of my childhood is that photographs must be handled carefully, held at the edges. So I challenge myself to alter photographs. If I have many, I'll alter an original, otherwise I alter copies. In this case I used a poker to scratch a halo and "smile" and then added a rub-on from a Three Birds kit purchased in 2010ish.

Supplies:
My Mind's Eye Fine & Dandy papers
Pink Paislee Old School Glitter Sticker Alphabet
Tim Holtz Tape Postal (grid and ruler tape)
Tape Works - polka dot
Rub Ons from a very old kit by Three Birds
Shrinky Dink 
Papertrey Ink stamp and die: Be Mine, Valentine
Wendy Vecchi Inks: Orange Blossom, Coffee, and Rose Mader

Transformation Tuesday

Papertrey Ink has started a new challenge called Transformation Tuesday. I put a strip of 1/4 Scor Tape across the card and applied Pure Poppy Grosgrain Ribbon to it. The mat is die cut with Mat Stack 3, and stamped with the matching image from All Booked Up with Fresh Snow ink. The teapot is from Tea for Two, and the cup is from Tea for Two Additions stamped with Candied Apple Distress Oxide ink. I colored a piece of scrap paper with the same ink and used a vintage heart shaped hole punch for the hearts.

The background is mini embossed enamel dots using Stampendous Shabby Blue embossing powder.

My original card is from a challenge for Papertrey Ink's 5th Anniversary.

Snowfolk, Birthday Flower Wearing Style

A shaped birthday card for someone who loves snow folk. And because I'm so ready for spring. I cut two snow folk with Papertrey Ink's Shape Up: Snowman die.

The face is stamped with the matching stamp set. The wreath is die cut from the Make It Market kit: Garden Gate, The tulips are cut from the MIM kit: Market Street. The cake is made with the Tremendous Treats: Birthday set. The cake is colored with Vintage Photo and Scattered Straw Distress Markers and the candles and plate are colored with Cracked Pistachio. The candles have a tiny dot of Xmas Stickles and Mustard Seed flame and glow. The arms are colored with Gathered Twigs spritzed with water.

I added a bit of dimension by shaping the flowers of the wreath before gluing them (Tombow Multi Glue). The cake has 2 layers of foam tape. The hands are glued to the cake and the arms to the body.

 The second die cut is just large enough for this sentiment from Offbeat Birthday.

 And I included a Wallet Size Magnifier : D.

I have the most success die cutting stamped images with a closed die by saving the remainder of a diecut and lining up the stamped image on a cutting plate, and then fitting the die into the template. I am a HUGE fan of Tim Holtz' Sizzix Sidekick for cutting all the little things right at my desk.

Papertrey Ink March 2018 Blog Hop

My take on the Papertrey Ink March 2018 Blog Hop. I started by cutting out the middle of one of the papers from the Nostalgic Notions Make It Market kits. Everything else comes from Forest Floor: Spring. The mat the sentiment is stamped on was stamped in Spring Rain first, then blended with an Aqua Brush. Then stamped again with Blueberry Sky. I only glued the sides and bottom to make the mat a pocket.The sentiment was stamped with Gathered Twigs Distress Oxide.

The ferns were stamped with Bundled Sage Distress Oxide, the Snowdrop and Lily of the Valley stems were stamped with Forest Moss Distress Oxide. The Snowdrop flowers were stamped in Spun Sugar Distress Ink and the Lily of the Valley flowers were stamped with Tattered Rose Distress Oxide.

My Dog Susie

Most of  my childhood was documented in slides. A small handful resurfaced, and thanks to a handy dandy slide scanner they now exist digitally as well : D. This is a picture of my first dog, Susie. She was adorable, and I can't tell now if this was a puppy picture or a grown picture.

Another layout inspired by Altenew Academy's Stamps Meet Scrapbook Scrapbook class. The green and blue papers are from the Reflection kit. The white cardstock is Papertrey Ink's Linen cardstock which has a lovely subtle texture. The flowers are from Altenew's Frosted Garden set.

I used Papertrey Ink's Stitched Coasters die to make a stitchable square to make it easier to find Susie in the picture and stitched a frame in the photo using 2 strands of DMC 4075, one strand of DMC Gold Metallic and one strand of handspun 2ply Merino top. The mat is stamped repeatedly with one of the stamps from Papertrey Ink's Limitless Labels. The nugget wrapper shows what it looks like when it is only stamped once.

Life Imitating Craft

I took the Altenew Academy Class Stamps Meet Scrapbook. It gave me the motivation to scrap this photograph I took after reenacting a stamp from Papertrey Ink's Studio Style with my collection of PTI ribbons (in Ocean Tides). The stamped images on Shrinky Dink shown in the picture are used on the page after being colored in with colored pencils.

The page is stamped with Papertrey Ink's Fine Linen ink using a stamp Altenew's Coffee with a Splash set. The acetate butterfly is from Altenew's Reflection kit.

I love all the different textures of the ribbons (twill, stitched, satin, grosgrain, swiss dot), the gold watercolor, gold embossing powder, gold Thickers, Altenew's Alphabet Stickers, and the matte shrinky dink embellishments.

The "My soul is fed with stamps and ink" sentiment comes from Aletnew's Crafty Life stamp set. "I [heart] paper crafting" and "Do something creative every day" come from PTI's Studio Style.

I stamped the largest frame from Altenew's Framed set on PTI's Linen Cardstock with Versamark Ink and the applied Ranger's Super Fine Detailed Gold Embossing Powder and then brushed it in places for a more distressed look before heating it. Then I painted it with #90 Gold Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor before fussy cutting it.

The butterfly and ribbon Shrinky Dink embellsihments were attached by stitching them to the page with a 2ply handspun bombyx silk embroidery thread.

Papertrey Ink Vellum Birthday Card

I love making clear and translucent cards. Papertrey Ink's Vellum is easily sturdy enough to make a card with. In this case I used the large Jellyfish and go with the flow sentiment from Altenew's Painted Jellyfish stamp set. The happy birthday sentiment is from Club Scrap's Gimme A Ring kit. The largest jelly fish layer is stamped with Papertrey Ink's Fresh Snow. I heat set it and waited a while to move on to the next layers which included Sap Green Archival Ink and Wendy Vecchi's Cornflower Blue.

The mat effect is from a piece of  folded patterned paper (enhanced with Faded Jeans Distress Oxide).

The folded patterned paper lifts up to reveal the birthday sentiment : D.

Papertrey Ink February 2017 Blog Hop

Today is Papertrey Ink's February 2017 Blog Hop. The laurel and sentiment are from the Make It Market: Lovely Laurels mini kit heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I also sprinkled embossing powder across the background and on the edges. And two edges of the card base are inked with Raspberry Fizz.

 I started with Vintage Cream cardstock as the card base and blended Saffron Spice ink across it (spritzed with water). I wound up covering most of it with the focal image, but I love the effect.

What is barely visible (just enough to break the starkness of the solid cardstock) is the bow from Lovely Laurels stamped randomly with Fine Linen.

And because Simon Says Anything Goes, it's there as well : D.

Celebrating Papertrey Ink: 2009

Papertrey Ink is celebrating 2009. I used two sets released that year Wishing You and Vintage Picnic. I stamped the foliage with Prairie Grass and the flowers with Pure Poppy (and washed over them with an aqua brush). The picnic basket and the tea towel are die cut and stamped (and painted) with Pure Poppy. The food is stamped with Fine Linen and then colored with Scattered Straw, Seedless Preserves, Dusty Concord, Peeled Paint, Spun Sugar and Candied Apple Distress Markers. The background is made with a large flat aqua brush picking up Tumbled Glass Distress Ink.

Simon Says use your favorite tool, so I did (BigKick) : ). Simon also Says Fantastic Florals, so I did that too

Garden Gate Birthday Card

A gate fold birthday card, featuring a gate on the front made almost entirely from elements in Papertrey Ink's Make It Market kit: Garden Gate. The only bit of stamping in the entire card is the paper before the gate was cut. Stamped with Fine Linen and blended with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. The front of the gate fold before the lattice and gate were attached is stenciled with leafy Garden Gate stencil and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink. The sign and flowers are cut from printed sheets included in the kit.

The stenciled non-embellished side of the gate fold.

The inside shows the printed card base with the mailbox and removeable letter (which contains a birthday message) from the Make It Market kit: Post & Parcel with more floral embellishments from Garden Gate.

Simon Says Use Your Favorite Tool (BigKick),  so I did : ).

WOYWW 400

Not much going on except a little label attaching. This is an older Papertrey Ink stamp set that I used to store in CD cases, except now I store them in Avery Elle envelopes, so I keep the on their original sheet and cut the labels to suit (the newer sets come with the label in the same order as the stamps on the sheets so just peel and stick).

Since my eyesight isn't what it used to be, I find that inking up the stamps on the sheet and then pressing a bit of scrap on it makes it easy to tell which little stamp is which : D.

Head over to Julia's Stamping Ground for more crafty peeks of this 400th edition of sharing the creative spaces : D.

Stationery Wedding Gift

Another hand-stamped and stenciled stationery set. The inspiration comes from the wedding invitation (behind the stationery sheet).

Because I'm only using one stamp, I just used my Tim Holtz Grid Block aligning it at the top of the sheet and the lines made it easy to center the stamp. The stamp is from Papertrey Ink's Damask Designs set. It took me a few months to find the right greens (Limeade Ice and Prairie Grass inks from Papertrey Ink and Pine Needles Distress Ink for the stenciling). I got the variegated effect by inking the stamp with Limeade Ice and then dabbing the edge of Prairie Grass over the top of the first ink.  I also stamped 2 1/4 inch adhesive paper circles for a decorative envelope seal.

Papertrey Ink has a Deluxe Stationery kit with paper, envelopes, adhesive sheets and a small container (I put the envelope seals in this). So easy to decorate. And then the paper and the envelopes fit so nicely into one of the Basic White Stationery Boxes. I attach patterned paper and a piece of cardstock decorated like the stationery to the box top.

I wanted to make a customized stencil that was at least translucent to ensure proper placement of the initials and found Papertrey Ink's Vellum to be sturdy enough for the job. I was really surprised to find that the Distress Ink was smudge proof after a few hours. That definitely needs more experimenting. The vellum is white, the picture was taken after I had used a blending tool over it a few times : D.

This is the second Monogrammed Stationery set I've given a young newlywed couple.  I told them they could either write letters to each other or write other people. I don't know if I'm #analog or #Luddite lol.

A Gender Neutral Card : )

A gatefold card made for Online Card Classes Wild Card. The card base is Papertrey Ink's Ocean Tides, stamped with the foliage stamp from Friendship Jar: Flowers set with Fine Linen ink. The flowers are cut from one of the small dies in the Friendship Jar: Flowers set out of patterned vellum. The hearts are Limitless Layers: Heart Stitches cut from Classic Kraft and the plane is Tim Holtz' Mini Airplane covered with a technique from Creative Chemistry 103 (also on Online Card Classes).

 The gatefold opened. Simon Says Global Exploration, so it's there as well. 

Poe with Gold and Vellum

A card made for Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday #263: Background Building with Frames.  I started with Ocean Tides cardstock and added the frame die cut from Tag Sale #10 cut from a gold foil adhesive. The vellum is cut with Friendship Jars: Flowers (2 times) and is adhered to the card under the focal point with Ranger Matte Multi Medium. I love how the light reflecting off the frames catches in the vellum. The focal point is the Poe stamp from Wendy Vecchi's Metro Art stamp set (fussy cut, Tim Holtz collage crazing medium with  a little Distress Crayon worked into the crazing). I had made this a few months ago and it was just waiting on my desk for the perfect project : D.

Simon Says Halloween Inspiration, and since Poe always reminds me of Halloween, I'm entering it there as well : D.

Papertrey Ink September 2016 Blog Hop

It's Papertrey Ink's September Blog Hop. The frame is made with the medium String Frame die, and strung with Rustic Twine. The tag is cut with Fillable Frames #9 and stamped with Make It Market: Don't Forget to Write and a stamped off image from Woodblock Prints in Dark Chocolate. The cardbase is Classic Kraft.

It is also in keeping with this week's CASology's cue card, so I'm adding it there as well.

Reflecting on Mirror Board

CASology's cue card this week is Frame (I also have another post where I'm the guest designer). The frame is made by stamping the two frame elements from Papertrey Ink's Make It Market kit: You are a Masterpiece with Distress Embossing Ink and Ranger Super Fine Detail Gold Embossing Powder. Then being careful to leave a clean line at the frame edge, I used Wild Honey Distress Marker to color in the frame with just a bit over the outside line which was then drawn out with a Water Brush. This image shows the reflection of the embossing powder.

This image shows the reflection of the Mirror Board and the watercolor effect of the Distress Marker and Water Brush.

Simon Says Clean and Simple, so I'm entering it there as well.